Monday Monday

• It really irritates me when people call me up (telemarketers) and act like they immediately know more than me about a topic. For example, we keep getting these phone calls from a bunch of different companies that buy your time share weeks in case you won't use them. They try to give you a song and dance about how you'll make 10K by selling your time. Now even an idiot would know you're going to get taxed on that money. So when I asked the guy today how I was supposed to get around that, he snottily replied, "Well it's not like your going to make 30 grand off this transaction," I snottily replied back, "Yea, but when you're already in an upper tax bracket, every penny counts. And 10 grand is a lot of pennies." That shut him up.
• Which leads me to my next point- you can't always judge someone based on what the own. It goes both ways. Just because someone drives a BMW, it doesn't mean they're loaded- they could be eating Ramen to drive that car. And just because I only paid for a small time share doesn't mean that I'm some desperate idiot who can't afford their vacation plan and needs to sell it to you when I can bank it for two extra years with RCI. Grrrrr....
• My poor baby is sick. I'm confident it's from that breeding ground of disease known as daycare. In the two weeks he's been there he's already had a bout of diarrhea and is now at home with a cough, fever and double ear infection. *sigh* I had to leave work early to get him. I can't afford to keep doing this if I want to have another kid.
• Speaking of work- my morning kids are going to be a total pain in my butt, but my afternoon kids are starting to ROCK. I hope it's enough to get me through the year.
• We took Max to the zoo for the first time yesterday. Got to see the BABY ELEPHANT. Super cute. :) I'll leave you with some pictures from the trip.

Max loved peeking at us through these holes

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He got to see lions and tigers AND bears. Oh my!

Hello baby elephant!!!!

We thought it was hilarious that he wanted to pet the fake statues in the zoo. He also enjoyed pulling the hair on the goats in the petting zoo. Sooooo glad that the goats were patient!

Poor Farley

My mom had to make the difficult decision to put her dog down today. He has been blind for quite a while now because of glaucoma, and the doctor warned her that his eyes would just get worse. So bad in fact, that the pressure would be painful and his eyes would eventually bulge and possibly pop out of his head. (Yea, gross. I know.) So she asked for the symptoms. The vet said he'd start rubbing his eyes a lot when they started to hurt. And last week, he started rubbing.

So instead of being selfish and dragging it out until his eyes were unbearable, she made the decision to put him down. She went to the vet tonight and my brother went with her, and they hugged him and kissed him and held him while he slowly went to sleep. Very sad. Very peaceful. Very hard on my mom.

I'm not quite sure what she'll do without him. She's so sad right now. I'm sad right now. Farley was a good dog. He went through some crazy times with my mom. And now she's alone. And that makes me sad. I wish I could do something. But being three hours away makes it hard. So I'm posting some pictures and videos of Max on my Mobile Me account through Mac and hoping that it helps cheer her up a bit.

I'm not sure when she'll get another dog, but I hope it' sometime soon. Not to dishonor his memory and place in her heart, but she needs something to come home to every day...and she's already told me a dog is easier than a man. (haha) So keep my mom in your thoughts and if you're the praying kind, keep her in your prayers. Because if you've ever been a dog person, you understand that a dog isn't a pet. It's a family member. And your heart feels a little empty when that friend is gone.

Poor Max!

I've been getting ready for school all week and taking Max to daycare. He hasn't seemed to mind it. The people there are really nice and almost all of the employees know him by name and tell me how happy and friendly Max is. It's very nice to hear. Even when he's tired or teething, he's still a smiley baby when he's there.

Yesterday I got a call that he had a slight fever and green diarrhea. I went to go get him and since then he has had crazy poops! He keeps leaking out the sides of his diapers! His little bottom has this horrible red rash all over it. We've done Desitin and Butt Paste and neither is relieving it because he just keeps pooping!!!!

On top of that, his two top teeth are coming in at the same time. They're so close! Definitely moving faster than his bottom teeth did.

But between his sore gums and his sore bottom, the poor kid is RAW and sleeping a lot. Last night he went to bed at 5 and we woke him up at 9 to put on his pjs and feed him. Tonight he went to bed at 6 and will get woken up at 9 again. My poor baby!!! At least we got this out of the way before school starts next week!

Daycare Woes

So I'm really not looking forward to going back to work. I haven't been into the building at all yet and school starts in two weeks. I still have furniture to move around and my desk to set back up. Plus bulletin boards to put together...Oh, and those annoying lesson plans. Haha.


I'm not feeling the same anxiety I did last time with leaving Max because we decided to switch daycares. Last week I visited three traditional daycares and interviewed three private people and we finally made the decision to go with a different daycare center in town. It just started in April and we actually know the people that own it in a roundabout way. There are positives and negatives to this whole experience.


Positives include:

• There are quite a few less kids in the rooms. Which means a lot more one on one attention for Max.


• In addition to less kids, the rooms are MUCH larger than his last daycare. In his new room he has plenty of room to crawl around (when he finally starts doing that!) and there are lots of toys and books on the floor within his reach.


• The new facility has tiled floors with playmats. They mop every day (which we have witnessed on the several visits we've made there) and they also clean the sheets and mattrasses on every crib daily. None of these things were done at Max's last daycare.


• We also don't have to worry about putting together bottles! The new center will keep several of his bottles or sippy cups at the facility and they will wash them every day in there super steamy dishwasher. It means that we only have to drop off the carton of goat milk and the rest of the work is on them.


• In addition, Max is mostly on baby food at this point, so it's food and bibs. This is a lot less work on us for washing bottles every night and labeling them.


• There is a lot of play time on the floors involved in the new center. Very little time is spent "up". There is only one exersaucer and one swing in his new room.


• It costs the same amount as his old daycare.

Negatives include:

• The stress I went through in finding a new place.


• Having to tell the old place that we were leaving and be treated rudely by the assistant director.


• Learning that our old place was violating SEVERAL state requirements and that Max probably suffered because of some of them.


• Having to call Jobs and Family Services to report our old daycare for the violations.

I can't tell you how many parents I've talked to that have withdrawn their children from Max's old daycare this summer. Another friend of mine withdrew her son today after witnessing several two year olds dragging bags of dirty diapers behind them to a dumpster (the teacher was "supervising") and then coming in and not washing their hands. Furthermore, she noticed there wasn't even any soap next to the sink!

We learned that in Max's room they are not supposed to have ANYTHING attached to their cribs (state law- Max had multiple things hanging on his crib that they encouraged us to bring in) and that there must be a fire exit in the room (there isn't one). We also learned that the daycare center isn't even allowed to put a wedge in the crib if they try to roll over while sleeping. We signed a waiver giving Max permission to sleep on his stomach (the whole SIDS concern) but they were still forcing him to sleep in a wedge.

We also heard that in order to make room in Max's age group, the old daycare was transitioning anyone who could walk up to the two year old room. So there were several 16 month olds in with 24 month ++ kids.

Needless to say, we're very happy to have switched and it should cause a lot less stress on us at work and home. I'm starting him this Thrusday and Friday and then three days next week. I'm sad that I have to leave him (esp at such a fun time in his development) and I fear that I will miss important milestones like crawling, walking, and his first word. But hopefully we all come out the better at the end of this year. I just can't believe that my baby is turning 1 in four months time! Before I know it, I'll be planning his birthday party and celebrating Christmas again!

I Love My Yard...and Hate the Neighbor's

So I've mentioned how hard we worked on the deck and The Great Wall. But until it was all finished, I didn't realize how much I was going to like it. It thought it was going to be an improvement and something I could "live with" until we had the finances to do what we really want. (It involves a large covered patio that's attached to the house with ceiling fans and a built in grill, large outdoor furniture, etc.)

But now that it's done, and my plants are all in and my new over sized chairs are set up, I love it! I can put the awning out and pretend it's my permanent roof, and I can watch the trees blow gently in the breeze and admire my potted plants, all from the comfort of my red cushioned armchair and ottoman. :) And it certainly helps that the neighbors have been very complimentary.

But what bugs me more than ever now is my neighbors' yard. They don't do anything to maintain it. The couple that lives there are technically friends and you would think I would be able to say something to them, but I can't. And I think most of the other neighbors are fed up with their yard too. So much so, that they don't speak to them. It's awkward. And part of me wishes I could put up a fence so I didn't have to look at the giant weeds growing in their beds. I should sneak a picture to show you how tall them are. I think my dogs would get lost in them! Even their family is fed up with the way their yard looks because they've been over to trim the bushes and clean some of the smaller beds when they're not home!

Another pet peeve of mine is mulching. They haven't mulched since they moved in 2 years ago. The beds look bare and the mulch would actually help keep down the weeds! One neighbor was kind enough to give them a couple of yards of leftover mulch for some of their front beds, but even that didn't cover everything! And they keep saying they're going to get more mulch to finish the front beds at least, but it never happens. We had about 2 yards left over from our own job and I'm contemplating just finishing the job myself. It's just an eyesore on our street.

And I have to be honest and say I don't feel bad for complaining about them. Because I'm of the belief that if you can't afford to maintain the house, you can't afford the house. Just because you can make the monthly mortgage payment, you also have to factor in what it costs to maintain the exterior. I'm not asking them to water their lawn (heck, even I don't do that!) or put in new plants. I'm just looking for them to weed and mulch to help maintain the clean look of our street.

But I don't know how to say that without being rude. So I won't say anything. And will sneak over there in the dead of night to pull weeds. Or hope for an early frost. :P

Time

I just don't seem to have time for this blogging thing anymore! I feel bad. I don't even have time to read other people's blogs. I'm amazed at how much time a kid can take up! And then when I'm staying home I find there are a million and one things that I could be doing! Here's what we've been up to lately:

• The Great Wall of Erdahl is finally finished. Most of our evenings have actually been spent outside working on the yard. It's exhausting! But the end result is awesome. We have all of our flowers in, the mulch laid, and even managed to build some new patio furniture. We bought two chairs and ottomans with bright red fabric and really big cushions. They look awesome, if I do say so myself. I'll try to get a picture in here later.
• Max FINALLY has two bottom teeth peeking through. They've been waxing and waning in his little gums for almost two months. And now they are finally peeking through. Nice and jagged. He is now experimenting with biting things. Including me. :P
• My birthday party was a great success. Lots of visitors (upwards of 50 people came!) and plenty of good times in the Jumpy house. :) My legs were SOOOOOO sore the next day. It was crazy! But totally worth the money. I am thoroughly enjoying my new decade. Considering I've only been 30 for one day....haha.
• We're taking Max on a plane for the first time ever next week. Kendall is heading to a conference in Orlando for 4 days and we're tagging along. We're staying a pretty posh resort and spa that offers a crib for the room and on site babysitting for when I want to get a pedicure or massage or whatever. Crazy! I'll try to take pictures of Max and me by the pool. We're thinking of trying to get a shuttle to either Sea World or Disney one night. Should be a good time. Hopefully Max behaves on the plane.
• School starts in a month. *sigh* I'm totally not looking forward to it at all. I think I'll be counting the days until Christmas break. And then Spring Break. And then Summer Break. :) I was looking as my class rosters and I'm already having dreams about screaming at the kids. Not a good sign.
• I have really enjoyed my summer with Max. I was sitting in front of him the other day at his highchair and was thinking about how great it's been to have him in our life. This time last summer I was just wondering what it would be like to juggle a baby and all of our other day to day chores and business and now I realize how great it is. Even if he has meltdowns and bad days, Max is such a great kid.
• I got a Sony Reader for my birthday and I'm super excited. I've already downloaded three free books from the Internet and the library. It's compact and lightweight and easy to read the screen. This might actually help cut down on the ridiculous number of books we have in the house! We'll see.... :)

Fake Sneezing

I guess this is all the thing now as a 7 month old baby. He thinks fake sneezes are HIL-AR-I-OUS.